


After All This Time

by fredsghost



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:54:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29904165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredsghost/pseuds/fredsghost
Summary: fred leaves you on the day you were supposed to tell him that you were pregnant with his child. three years later you see him again, and secrets are unearthed.
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Reader, Fred Weasley/You
Kudos: 16





	After All This Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “so what if lavender knows? and also, i don’t know why it matters if they’re yours because you pushed me away, fred! you left me!”
> 
> “they…?” fred froze. “both of them? twins? you’re not married?”

“i don’t understand, freddie. why are you—”

“[y/n]! that’s enough!” your boyfriend furrowed his brows, blowing out an exasperated breath that had you feeling offended. he ran a hand through his already unkempt hair before meeting your eyes. “don’t you get it? i’m done. we’re done. we’re _through_.”

there was no emotion behind his words. no meaning. nothing that told you of the two years you’ve spent together. and to be perfectly honest, even if you wouldn’t admit it to yourself, you expected this. deep down you knew he’d fallen out of love somewhere along the way.

you didn’t know when and you didn’t know how, you just did. it was evident in his eyes. his tired brown eyes. it was evident in the way he didn’t bother looking for you after classes like he used to do. in the way he brushed you off on date nights when in the past he’d always make an effort. in the way he spent more and more of his time away from you, so different from the way you used to be practically inseparable.

in the way he felt like a stranger when he was your lover.

yet something burned hot in your belly that told you to fight. for this relationship. for your future. but is it really worth fighting for when you know you’ve already lost?

something painful found itself lodged in your throat. maybe it was all the things you wanted to say, but couldn’t. you knew he wouldn’t let you say any of them. nothing could change fred weasley’s mind when he’s decided.

he was stubborn like that; it used to be one of the things you loved about him. now it came back to bite you in the ass.

you had been fighting against this, against _him_ , for over a month now and it was chipping away at your self worth. enough was enough. you had to let him go. he wanted you to let him go.

“alright. i'll…” you just let the words hang there, unable to find the right ones.

after a moment of steely silence, you just nodded resolutely and turned away, wanting nothing more than to finish this. the sooner you can, the sooner you can start moving on.

 _how_ you would do that? well, you supposed you’d figure it out as you went.

“i just,” fred spoke up just before you stepped out of hearing range. but you didn’t dare turn back around, not when tears were already streaming silently down your face, your heart twisting with every breath.

you were surprised that he had anything left to say to you.

“i can’t deal with—with mum breathing down my back, and _umbridge_ , and the shop, and—and _you_ on top of all that. i just _can’t_.”

excuses. the git was actually giving you excuses. the audacity.

“so that’s that then.” your throat was tight, voice hoarse, and you prayed fred didn’t notice. not that it mattered. as if he’d do anything about it.

he sighed. “that’s that.”

without anything else, you started climbing the steps towards your common room, not bothering to spare another glance at fred weasley, who just watched as the love of his life slipped away, numb.

your hand, lodged deep in your pocket, crumpled around your first ultrasound. you were going to tell him, you really were. but how could you when he practically wanted nothing to do with you anymore?

you were three months along.

and that afternoon, fred and his brother made their dramatic exit, throwing up fireworks and tearing up exam papers as they left on their broomsticks. it was the first time you’ve heard of fred so jovial. maybe you really were holding him back. of course, that was something you experienced through word of mouth.

what you didn’t know was that prior to their grandiose display, one twin sent the other to look for you, but couldn’t find you. not in the common room, or the library, or any classroom. what they didn’t know was that you were too busy throwing up in madam pomfrey’s clinic to make the time to watch the love of your life leave you all over again.

that same afternoon had you seeking out hermione granger, the brightest witch of her age. you’d approached her in the library, lip quivering, throat tight, as you showed her the crumpled ultrasound, asking for the best cloaking spell she’s got.

you could only reuse the ‘bloated’ excuse so many times before it became suspicious, especially at three months along when 'bloated’ isn’t really the first word that comes to mind.

hermione took one look at your belly, manually cloaked by your loosest robes, and performed the spell, but not before hissing; “does fred know?”

you didn’t meet her eyes. “why would you assume it’s his?”

“oh please,” she scoffed, crossing her arms. “you don’t have the room in your heart for anyone else.”

you hated how three years later that was still true.

when it came around to the battle of hogwarts, it was gruesome on both sides of the war, and you were glad your twins, the splitting image of their father and yourself, were safe in the company of your family while you ran through the castle, taking down death eater after death eater, covered in ash, blood, and bruises. and when their faces flashed through your head as a gut feeling pulled you in the direction of the room of requirement, you were running like hell.

you didn’t know what it was that was leading you there, only that your gut feeling grew heavier and heavier the closer you got until it felt like your life depended on it. only when you saw the flash of red did you realize why.

one moment, fred weasley was saying something to his brother, percy, humor etched on both their faces. the next had the back wall exploding and collapsing faster than you could react.

and right smack in the center of the impact zone stood the father of your kids.

you didn’t think. “ _depulso maxima!_ ”

the spell sent him flying back at an alarming rate. it choked you with worry that you may have caused more damage than you wanted to avoid and that had you running across the hall to check. percy had gotten there first, his face stricken with panic as he gripped fred’s wrist before looking up at you.

“is he…?” you dropped to a kneel, your trembling hands subconsciously moving to brush fred’s hair away from his face before you pulled back.

percy swallowed nervously, feeling for a pulse and letting out a relieved sigh that lifted a tremendous weight off both your shoulders. “i think—i think he’s just been knocked out.”

“oh, thank merlin.” you tried to blink away your tears, but they were coming faster than you could stop them.

“wha…?”

just then, fred started coughing up dust and you were on your feet faster than lightning. percy eyed you worriedly as you stepped away, looking between you and his brother, piecing two and two together.

“wait, stay!” he called just as fred started groaning, no doubt wracked with pain from having just been blasted across rubble. “i think my brother would like to properly thank you for having just saved his life, [y/n].”

“i… i can’t. you know i can’t, percy.”

and once again, you started climbing the steps towards your common room, in search of anyone else in need of help, not bothering to spare another glance at fred weasley as you swallowed back the urge to kiss him right where he laid.

when the war was won and the dust settled, it found you lying fragile on a stretcher in what used to be the magnificent great hall. your body lay exhausted and bones were broken in several places, your hip having taken most of the blunt force after an encounter with fenrir greyback.

“i know the spell, but are you _sure_ you don’t want to wait for madam pomfrey?” lavender brown was sat next to you, sniffling and shaking, but otherwise fine. she refused to leave your side after you saved her life, dutifully watching your back as you continued to fight, broken hip be damned.

“i need to go home, my—my family’s waiting for me.” you groaned when you accidentally put pressure on your fractured knee, feeling like a pathetic ragdoll. “just do the spell please lav.”

“o—okay.”

and so she did, going from top to bottom as quickly and efficiently as she can so that the sooner she finished, the sooner you could start healing. the whole time you were holding yourself back from crying out behind clenched teeth.

“all done.” lavender sent a smile your way that you gratefully returned as you sat up, sore. then her eyes flicked up at something behind you. “oh, i think that’s george coming over.”

your smile dropped, you head whipping around at _fred_ storming through the great hall, his gaze meeting yours with unwavering purpose. merlin, you couldn’t deal with him. not today. you weren’t ready yet.

you gripped your wand tight. lavender shot you a confused look.

fred didn’t break eye contact as he called out to you. then he broke into a run just as he realized what you were about to do. “[y/n]—!”

you quickly apparated away before you could hear the end of his sentence.

and just like that, once again, fred could do nothing but watch as the love of his life slipped away.

that was last year. the war was won, the wizarding world was building itself back up again, and the daily prophet had just announced the weasley’s wizarding wheezes grand reopening. your twins, theodore and jonathan, or theo and jace for short, were three years old now and they were absolute hurricanes.

jace was practically a carbon copy of his dad, his flaming red hair and clear brown eyes a painful reminder of your past lover. he did take after you personality-wise though, which was a comfort. theo, on the other hand, was every inch you but with fred’s antics set on a permanent sugar high. and being a single mother to these two boys was heaven and hell, but you honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

you lived in a fixer-upper farmhouse just outside of london, real estate you bought simply because of the vast expanse of land surrounding it and also maybe because it slightly reminded you of the burrow. a place you once considered a second home.

theo was running through the halls, mimicking explosions and pilot calls with his toy planes as you painted the last unfinished portion of the living room wall, your jeans stained and your hair a mess. jace was sitting on the kitchen floor within your line of sight, playing with his lego set, tongue stuck out as he focused on putting the pieces together.

you were just about finished with the wall when something suspicious fell upon your ears. complete silence.

jace wasn’t in the kitchen mumbling to himself as he put together lego anymore and theo was being uncharacteristically quiet, his loud footsteps gone. that was never a good sign.

but before you could drop your paint brush and set out on a search around the house, your twins were calling out to you.

“mummy! there’s aliens at the door!”

“and they have jace’s hair!”

aliens? where did theo get that? and jace's—? your heart dropped. no. it couldn’t be. it wasn’t possible.

“what do we do mummy? they said their names were gred and forge.” you didn’t know if jace actually missaid their names or if that was how they actually introduced themselves, nevertheless, when your boys came bounding towards where you stood frozen, one look at their confused little faces had you shaking out of your stupor.

“stay in the kitchen, okay? mummy will only be a minute.”

you would just open the door, tell them to get lost, and shut it back in their faces. maybe invite george in for tea. you didn’t really know. your heart was beating so hard against your chest that you couldn’t hear yourself thinking.

you gripped the door knob tight, breathing in deep before you wretched it open, steeling yourself for what’s to come.

you didn’t expect to be wrapped in a bear hug.

“you don’t know how long i’ve been searching for you.”

your arms were stuck to your side and your mind was wiped blank. you blinked confusedly over fred’s shoulder at george who just shrugged sheepishly at you.

“let go of me please,” you looked away and spoke, your voice barely above a whisper.

but fred was more than close enough to hear. you feared he could feel your heart pounding, or the way you physically had to hold yourself back from embracing him just as tight.

he jumped back, nervously rubbing his elbow. “right, yeah, sorry.”

you cut straight to the chase, even though the words are struggling to move past the lump in your throat. “why are you here?”

it’s been two years since you’ve been able to properly look fred in the eye. you saw so much of your sons in them. you yearned to have him back in your arms even though he’d just left them, but why were you feeling that way?

you were so confused. it didn’t help that fred’s claiming to have been searching for you when he’s the one who adamantly pushed you away.

“i…” it seemed like, for the first time since you’ve known him, fred was at a loss for words.

george watched this exchange for a few more painful moments before gently butting in. “he wanted to apologize, [y/n]. and to thank you f—”

“apologize for what?” you cut yourself off, then shook your head, knowing it doesn’t really matter. “and you don’t need to thank me for anything. i was merely at the right place at the right time. it was the right thing to do.”

you took a tentative step back, holding onto the edge of your door. “if that’s all…”

“no, wait.” fred held out a hand to stop you from shutting the door in his face. he was done acting like he wasn’t still in love with you. it was time to come clean. “i'm—”

“mummy! theo’s being bad again!”

just then, jace ran up to you, lip trembling and tears running down his face, making grabby hands at you. your heart softened at the gesture.

“hold on,” you muttered to the two dumbfounded adult twins outside your door as you picked up your son, theo making his appearance known by clinging to your thigh.

“what did theo do, love?” you started patting jace’s back as he cried into your shoulder. you could feel fred and george’s gaze burning into your back.

“i made his lego fall but mummy, i didn’t mean it!” theo cried, and you knew he was feeling bad. whenever jace cried, theo always empathized. yeah, maybe theo was being a little over the top, but he didn’t always mean to make his brother sad.

“c'mon, bub, you should apologize to your brother first.” you carried a sobbing jace further into your home, gesturing at fred and george to come inside. “love, theo said he didn’t mean it.”

“a—apology first,” he sniffled, rubbing at his eyes, still frowning. he took your face into his small chubby hands and you booped his nose with your own, sending him into a fit of giggles.

“i’m sorry, jace.” theo touched jace’s foot from where he stood holding onto your waist, his own face screwing up. you knew that he wanted the attention you were giving his twin. “i won’t do it again, okay?”

“okay.” jace nodded and wiggled, silently asking to be put down. “i won’t talk to you anymore if you do it again, though.”

theo’s eyes widened at the threat and he pinky promised he wouldn’t do it again. “i’ll even help fix it!”

then he looked at you expectantly and you softened at his look, booping his nose too. but before he ran back into the kitchen to put the pieces of jace’s lego set together again, he glanced up at fred and george and whispered not-so-conspiratorially at you, “why do they look like daddy, mummy?”

your eyes widened and your stomach contracted with a bout of nervous nerves. none of your boys were expert whisperers and were too curious for their own good, so you were sure that fred and george had heard.

maybe showing them pictures of you and their dad back when you were in school wasn’t the best idea after all. but then again, you didn’t really want to keep secrets from your twins, they more than deserved to know who their father was.

“mummy will tell you later, bub, okay?”

theo nodded resolutely. “otay!”

with that, your son bounded towards the kitchen and you were forced to finally face fred and george, their mixed emotions evident on their faces.

“ _daddy?_ ” fred breathed, his eyes following the two toddlers as they left. “is he… is he mine?”

you furrowed your brow at the question, glancing down at the ground as you tried to evade his question. “why does that matter? how did you even find me?”

he knew that tactic. he _invented_ that tactic.

“what do you mean, _why does that matter_? of course, it matters! i’ve been looking for you ever since hogwarts and…” he breathed, rubbing a hand across his face. “and i bumped into lavender earlier today, didn’t take much to get your address out of her. came as soon as i knew, reckon she knows then?”

“maybe you should…” you glanced at george, sensing that maybe this conversation wasn’t for him to take part in. you gestured towards the kitchen where your sons were noisily playing with their toys.

george’s eyes widened with realization before he nodded frantically. “of course, yeah.”

when he left, you turned back to fred who had taken it upon himself to pace a hole in your floor. “so what if lavender knows? and also, i don’t know why it matters if they’re yours because _you_ pushed _me_ away, fred! you left me!”

“they…?” fred froze. “both of them? _twins_? you’re not married?”

you scoffed, crossing your arms. “you’re not hearing me, of course you’re not hearing me. fucking typical.”

“i’m sorry, i’m just having a hard time digesting the fact that the love of my life saves me and just leaves me during a fucking war and when i finally find her to thank her and beg to take me back, she’s got two kids that, judging by the fact that one’s bloody ginger, are probably mine!”

“no,” tears welled up in your eyes as fred lets everything out. you wrapped your arms around yourself as if to shield you from his words. “ _no_. that’s not fair. you don’t get to say all those things. not anymore.”

fred steps forward, gingerly touching your elbows with warm hands. “it’s all true. and i thought you knew, i’ve only been sending you letters ever since i left. apologetic letters, telling you of how big of a git i was for pushing you away. i wanted you back so bad, but it came to my knowledge that you weren’t getting them because you moved. and i couldn’t find you, merlin knows i’ve been trying though.”

it was too good to be true. you shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut as tears leaked out of them. “then why…?”

he knew what you meant. “george was telling me that he needed me to focus on our future, he wasn’t explicitly telling me to break up with you, but with mum putting pressure on us about school, i was just so, so stressed and when i snapped i… i took it out on you and i haven’t stopped regretting it since.”

he rubbed your arms up and down as you absorbed this new information. you were now faced with a decision, forgive him or tell him to get lost? or… door number three; tell him that you want him back just as much? your thoughts were a messy whirlwind that had you quiet for a moment too long.

breaking your train of thought, fred lifted your chin with his finger to meet your eyes and suddenly you were sixteen all over again. even after everything, he still had this pull on you that had you feeling like a lovesick teenager. he smiled gently, moving his hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear.

“you’re killing me here, darling. are they mine? not—not that that really matters—”

“i thought i _saved_ you, fred.” you snorted, interrupting, a playful smirk tugging on your lips, one that he mirrored. you searched his brown eyes, both swimming with emotion, before you spoke again. “and yes, theodore james and jonathan thomas are yours. they’re three.”

at that statement, fred blinked, unfocused, and you knew he was doing the mental math in his head. “then that means…”

“that i was pregnant the day you broke up with me.” you nodded, confirming his suspicions.

his shoulders drooped. “why didn’t you tell me?”

“merlin, fred, i didn’t know if you even wanted to _see_ me, much less have me showing up on your doorstep with a blown up belly.” you looked away, leaning against the wall for support, but not before checking if the paint was dry. “you have to understand how much you hurt me when you left. you completely broke my heart.”

your lip trembled as you reminisced all the trials and difficulties you had to face on your own. how you had to drive yourself to monthly check ups and eventually st. mungo’s. how painful the labor was and thinking about holding fred’s hand the whole time. how you had to have lavender and hermione constantly around as you spiraled into a post-partum depression.

fred immediately took you into his arms, tears falling down his own face as you cried into his chest. “i know, i know. and i’m so sorry, [y/n]. but i’m here now, and i’m going to pick up the pieces i broke. if… if you’ll all have me.”

he started peppering your head with kisses, taking your silence as a positive thing. and it was, because eventually you were gently laughing at his constant attack on your face.

he eventually pulled back though, somber, as he seriously looked at you. “i was away from you and my sons for three years too long. i want to change that. i’ve always wanted a family with you and now i get to have that chance. please, [y/n] take me back, _please_.”

you lifted a hand to run your hand through his hair, missing the feeling. he leaned into your touch. you were finally getting your freddie back.

after all this time.

you rested your hand on his cheek. “consider this a clean slate.”

“a fresh start.” he nodded resolutely, kissing your palm, a broad grin plastered his adorably freckled face. suddenly, he let go of you and took a step back, making you tilt your head confusedly at the action. then he reached out a hand, grin turned mischievous.

“hi, i’m fred weasley.”

you rolled your eyes good naturedly as you shook his hand, your laugh lines deepening with the way you were smiling so wide.

“[y/n] [y/l/n], nice to meet you.”

the sound of clapping from behind startled the both of you.

george was leaning against the archway leading into the kitchen, chewing on a breadstick that the twins had probably given him. “merlin, you guys are still weird, even three years apart.”

the twins in question came bounding towards you from between his legs, jace running up to fred with his mouth open wide. “are you my daddy? mummy says my daddy has hair like mine!”

“yes, love, that’s your daddy.” you lifted theo into your arms as he made grabby hands at you and fred followed suite with jace, their resemblance uncanny.

“is he my daddy, too?” theo was whispering again, turned unusually shy by the presence of two adult males that didn’t look like him when they both looked like jace. your heart clenched with the fact that he was probably feeling left out.

fred spoke up before you could reassure him and he swiftly picked theo into his arms, designating a son on each hip. “yeah, you’re _both_ mine and you, theo, look so much like your mummy, it’s scary.”

theo clapped his hands gleefully, unfiltered happiness on his face as fred started zooming around the hall with the twins. your gaze turned soft at the sight of your kids and their dad finally reunited. you touched your lips as your heart swelled with love and pride and an abundance of other sappy emotions.

“you know, i gave him so much shit for breaking up with you when i found out.” you met george’s eyes across the hall as he came to stand beside you. “but it wasn’t long until i realized that it was just a spur of the moment thing… fred really loves you and i can personally vouch that he missed you terribly.”

he chuckled as you both watched fred walk out onto the porch as theo and jace started talking his ear off. “you wouldn’t believe how shocked he was when percy told him you were the reason he’s alive. if anything it fueled his need to search for you even more. i’m not supposed to be here, but he dragged me along in the name of ‘moral support’, the bloke.”

you nodded in understanding, laying a comforting hand on his arm. “ _i’m_ glad you’re here, george.”

“you know, it’s not too late to fight him. we both know ‘moral support’ means someone to drag his unconscious ass away after you’ve had your way with him.” he looked down at you from where you stood next to him, teasing.

you laughed at the comment, grabbing the attention of fred who approached you with a open mouthed smile. the twins then ran past you, talking animatedly as fred breathed deeply, no doubt spent from theo and jace’s hyper-ness. but he just puffed out his chest, leaned against the doorway, and kissed you on the cheek.

“told them about the joke shop, reckon that was a bad idea, ‘cause now they’re putting on their shoes.”

“what? fred, no!”

your heart was so full.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback is very welcome! i just love reading them aaa
> 
> this was such a weird thing to write bc i wanted it angst but it’s not angsty enough so watch out for more angst deuces


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